We have all seen the bird’s eye view perspective that some mapping applications have, but have you ever see mapping software that will actually show you what it is like while you are driving? This is definitely a first for me and surprising it was Microsoft that has brought it to us and not Google.

The image above was actually taken when I was ‘walking’ through the San Francisco, California area. Currently, the only two cities that have been imaged are San Francisco, California and Seattle, Washington. The only difference between the walking mode and driving modes is that each has a different skin that is applied to the window. I like the walking mode the best because it is a cleaner interface.

Overall I am very impressed with this feature and it must have taken quite some time for them to complete. They appear to have been driving around with four different cameras attached to the top of a vehicle that was constantly taking pictures. The Web interface was designed to always show you what the view would be in front of you, to the right of you, and to the left of you. The image above was cropped to fit this site so you don’t get the full effects of the different views.

Microsoft did a really nice job on this and it is something that you really have to experience for yourself. Check it out by following the link below.